A report on the World Conference Against Racism

World Conference Against Racism cont'd.

The final WCAR declaration and plan of action was adopted by 163 nations. But critics charge that the document was watered down and failed to bring attention to many causes emphasized at the conference. While the cause of the Romas was addressed in the document, other groups including the Barakumin minority of Japan, the Osu of Nigeria and minorities from Senegal and Mauritania were excluded. Conference president Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma expressed regret that other concerns like the issue of India’s Dalits were excluded. President Mbeki summed up the results in this way: “None of us achieved everything we wanted, but we have stated a historical process which provides us with a solid foundation to continue the struggle for a better world for all. “

By comparison, the NGO declaration went further than the intergovernmental document on many of the important issues raised in Durban. On the issue of slavery and colonial responsibility, the NGO document was direct and unequivocal: “ We demand that the United States, Canada, and those European and Arab nations that participated in and benefited from the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, the Trans-Sahara Slave Trade, the Trans-Indian Ocean Slave Trade, Slavery and the Colonization of Africa…(as well as)…the United Nations …shall…Ensure that…all nations, groups and their members who are the victims of crimes against humanity based on race, colour, caste, descent, ethnicity or indigenous or national origin are provided reparations…(including)… Restitution…encompassing the unconditional return of land… Monetary compensation that will repair the victims, including Africa, Africans and African descendants, by closing the economic gap created by these crimes…”
However UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson refused to recommend the final NGO document to the intergovernmental forum because of the language used regarding Israel. NGO Forum President Moshe More contextualized Robinson’s response: “…only three paragraphs (418, 419 & 420) were a bit problematic … those are the three paragraphs that the High Commissioner for Human Rights referred to, the paragraphs that she had a problem with …but I think the High Commissioner respected also that the document itself was a reflection of the voices of the victims…”

As an African American filmmaker, I personally had a very visceral response to the conference. Gathered in Durban were the minds, hearts and bodies of more than 10000 individuals assembled for the express purpose of eradicating racism. Just as expressed in the NGO declaration, this assemblage embodied “the richness of the diversity of cultures, languages, religions and peoples in the world and the potential within this diversity to create a world free of racism, racial discrimination, genocide, slavery, xenophobia and related intolerance…. “ That was the image I saw at dinnertime each day in the conference dining hall.

The conference also worked for me on a philosophical level. It confirmed the existence of racism at a time when so many are in denial and it affirmed the fact that so long as racism persists in society, we all are its victims—both those upon whom racism is perpetrated as well as the perpetrators. As noted in the NGO declaration, “racism is an ideological construct” that bestows one race with social and political power over another. That kind of racial superiority or privilege ultimately becomes a crutch that denies to its possessor the rewards of his own efforts.

A Canadian Youth Summit delegate and reporter for the Young Peoples Press made an observation about a conference billboard she saw which read: “YOU”RE Not A Racist, Right?” The young reporter said every conference backpacker she met remembered that quote. And so did I. Ultimately, Durban was a clarion call to arms in the fight against racism, racial discrimination, genocide, slavery, xenophobia and related intolerance. It provided us all with yet another opportunity to expand the limits of our humanity by facing ourselves concerning race. As suggested by that billboard, each one must submit to his own scrutiny in this regard. The consequences of not doing so could be deadly.
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A. Rico Speight is a Nigerian writer living and working in New York City.